Updating a Shotgun Flat

A Chicago designer finds ingenious ways to squeeze more elbow room from a cramped footprint

When I bought an early 20th century commercial three-flat in
Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood (1), the goal was to put
our architectural design studio on the ground floor, rent out
the second-floor apartment, and live on the third floor. Such
live/work arrangements have been attracting quite a bit of
interest in urban areas like ours, so I was excited to have the
chance to adapt this building to modern standards.1.
The main challenge was the narrow footprint. The
900-square-foot third-floor flat is 51 feet long and just 19.5
feet wide, with the rooms stacked front to back. It...